


Technocorporeal Auditing

by orphan_account



Category: SAYER (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, its svayer cause I’m just Like That, someone mentioned in last night’s stream that this would be a good au/fic. ask and ye shall recieve
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-13 20:22:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21003617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Jacob Hale is a long-suffering scientist who’s been tasked with building mechanical bodies for the many AIs on Typhon and Earth. There’s only one problem: he might have developed a crush on the very AI he started his work with.





	Technocorporeal Auditing

_If I may interject, I believe I should get to pick what my body looks like._

“SAYER, this is just my job. I’m following what the plans say to do.”

The scientist measured out a small vial of red fluid, and injected it into the arm of the construct. It was tall, but unfinished, and there weren’t many details that stuck out about it yet. 

_Doctor Hale, I don’t like this._

“Well, I don’t like being watched all hours of the day. I’d trade my body for incorporeality any day of the week.” He sighed, flicking one of the synthetic eyelids back to check if the pupils were dilating correctly yet. They weren’t, and Hale groaned in dismay, turning around to check the computer screen behind him.

_I don’t want blue eyes._

“SAYER, I — you know what? Fine. What color do you want? I’m sick of this program and would rather work with the color functions.” Hale said. He strode back over to the construct and opened the eyes, pulling over the tablet for the controls. 

_I want red._

“And how do we ask, SAYER?” Hale’s voice was sing-song as he booted up the sequence for eye color. He could almost feel the disdain in SAYER’s voice as it responded.

_I want red, please._

“Thank you. Give me a moment, this can be a little finicky.” He swiped a hand over it to clear the current input and started working to type in the proper code for red. The eyes flickered for a moment, unseen by Hale, and he pressed enter to let the color fill in. 

_Hm. May I test this out?_

“The jaw system still needs to be calibrated, and don’t even get me started on the balance and stabilizers. If I were to let you in and try to walk around, you’d wobble around and fall like a...whatever does that. It’d be better to wait.”

_I can handle myself._

“Fine, if you insist. Opening channels now.”

There was a buzzing noise, then a loud beep. The construct’s eyes shot open and it shivered.

_This...this doesn’t feel right. It feel wrong._

“I know. It’s probably disorientating and weird. Give it a chance, though.” Hale tapped his finger against his lips for a moment before helping SAYER stand up, indeed shaky. The construct was lighter than him, and that was saying something — but it was lucky, cause he was supporting it’s full weight. 

_I admit, it is nice to be able to affect things physically and not need a pair of human hands to do it for me._ It looked down at it’s hands, wiggling the fingers in what seemed like astonishment. I can...touch you. 

“Yes. Here, look.” Once Hale got SAYER supported by the worktable, he put his hand up. SAYER slowly, as if confused, put it’s hand to Hale’s — much bigger and strange looking, compared to the human’s. Hale remained there for a moment before quickly pulling his hand away, a faint blush dusted over his face. 

_Your heart rate is elevated and increased blood flow is reminiscent of —_

“Shush. Get back up on the table, SAYER.” 

The construct ambled back to the table and climbed back onto it, eyelids fluttering shut as SAYER left the construct. It gave soft, digital sigh as it relaxed back into incorporeality, and Hale watched the construct for a few moments before going back over to open up the chest cavity, getting ready to work on the stabilizers. 

_I...like being able to touch. In my own body and no one else’s._

“It’s one of the benefits, yeah.” 

_But I can feel it. I’ve never felt like this before._

“Well, you’re new to this. It’s normal to feel like that.” Hale couldn’t help the smile that crept onto his face. “I don’t mind you touching me. Just warn me first. Do you want to be in the construct while I work on you?”

_Yes._

“Okay, reopening channels. Stand by.” 

SAYER slipped back into the construct and reopened it’s eyes. It focused on Hale’s face, who was smiling to himself as he calibrated SAYER’s innards. Something sparked in it’s chest and Hale gave a small “ah!” of surprise.

_Are you okay, Doctor?_

“Yes. I’m alright. Just clipped the wrong wire.” Hale laughed quietly, patting SAYER’s cheek. “You don’t need to worry.”

_I wasn’t._

“Well, okay then. Can you look at me, please?” Hale tilted the construct’s head down to look at it’s pupils, which dilated to big swells of yellow, when it turned its gaze to Hale. 

“It-it seems like your pupils are working great. They’re getting bigger just looking down.” _Looking down at me,_ Hale didn’t add, and focused his attention back on the voice box. He pressed a couple buttons on the side and and settled onto his elbows, smiling when SAYER made some humming noises through it. It vibrated gently when SAYER started to talk.

“I can’t move my jaw. Can you fix this?”

“Yes. This is taking longer than I expected, though, so it’ll be in about an hour. Can you hang tight while I get some materials?”

“Yes. Please hurry.”

Hale walked off to another room, where SAYER could hear him rummaging around in bins and grabbing other supplies. He strode back in with an armful of papers, two boxes, a mess of what looked like black animal fur, and a thermos. 

“So what do you want to do first? We can do your hair, jaw, or finish your chest.” Hale chirped, setting the supplies down. SAYER cocked it’s head and spoke from the voice box.

“Jaw. Then hair.” SAYER said, as Hale closed up the chest cavity and slid the lock in place. He got a stool to stand on so he could get at the small panel on the underside of it’s jaw, popping it open and slipping his fingers under the tongue.

“Please don’t lick me while I’m doing this, we don’t need to make this weirder than it already is. I was planning on doing this while you weren’t inhabiting the construct.” Hale poked around until he found the locking mechanism and flipped it open, making the jaw go slack around his hand. The tongue twitched as his thumb passed over it accidentally, and Hale blushed a deep red when SAYER’s eyes met his. 

“You’re very flustered today, Doctor Hale. I can’t imagine why.” SAYER smiled when everything was put back in place, it’s voice coming through in the proper place. It flicked it’s tongue out and licked it’s lips.

“SAYER, let’s just finish your hair, then we’ll do your chest and hopefully we can get you walking around today.” Hale averted his eyes and picked up what SAYER now realized was hair for the construct. 

“It’s black, we decided a base color would be best for you. My suggestion of ‘bright pink’ didn’t go through.” Hale joked, sliding back the construct’s scalp plate, and affixing the wig to it. He smoothed back the hair and locked it down in place, trying to make it look a bit presentable before SAYER looked at it. It gave a few small shakes of its head before looking at the mirror Hale held up.

“You picked a good color.” SAYER admired its reflection for a moment before pushing it aside, placing a hand on Hale’s cheek.

“What are you doing — oh!” Hale felt the hand card through his hair, feeling the texture of it, before SAYER reached up to touch it’s own. 

“It’s the same material...but synthetic?” SAYER questioned, tousling Hale’s hair before touching its own again, making it untidy and tangled. 

“In the material synthesis lab a few floors down. They can make a very convincing, well...wig, I suppose. And they did a good job with this one, I have to remember to thank them.” Hale let his hand brush through SAYER’s hair once more before turning his attention to the chest once more.

“I’m going to be fitting your silicone padding now. Please be still.” Hale said, picking up a thick sheet of red silicone and patting it down on SAYER’s torso. Picking up the heating iron and pressing it down to bind the silicone and synthetic skin, SAYER looked down, a bit interestedly. 

“Is this supposed to hurt, Doctor Hale?”

“You aren’t outfitted with pain receptors, so, no.”

“It feels...strange. Like someone —“

“—is soldering your skin together? Cause that’s what I’m doing.” Hale carefully made sure the silicone was in the proper place before getting to work on the other side. He had to finish these seams, but then he had to work on the place where it joined it’s thighs...if he was being honest, he had been dreading that. He’d have to work between SAYER’s legs while the damn AI chided him for being silly, and knew that he would be stuck there until the construct was finished. He had been doing steady work for four weeks now, after the initial six months of technical development. And if he had to be honest...he had developed a small crush on SAYER.

“Okay, all done. Now I need to get your thighs and torso sealed up and we’ll be done for the day.” Hale said quietly, tugging down the waistband of SAYER’s pants. The construct — no, it was an android, now — didn’t have genitalia, and Hale was glad that the AI didn’t mention it. It adjusted it’s posture slightly and let Hale seal the final bits of silicone and press the seams down, to make them even and neat. 

“Are we done?”

“Yes.”

“Can I use this body to walk around Halcyon?”

“Yes. Let me help you down.” Hale wrapped an arm around it’s waist and had it take a few steps on it’s own, where it didn’t wobble or stumble. It turned around and held out its hands.

“I need clothes.”

“Yeah, of course, let me go get them.”

Hale tossed a white shirt and suit jacket at SAYER, who pulled them on, and slid on some heels to complete the outfit. It walked back over to Hale, who flinched when it got close to him.

“Thank you, Doctor Hale. I will be seeing you soon.” 

“Yes...tomorrow, then, at three? We need to finish your throat modifications and forearm silicone.”

“I will be here.”

Doctor Jacob Hale watched as SAYER left, giving him a smile that set his heart aflutter. When he was sure the AI was gone, he slumped onto the table. Jones walked in just as he did so, rolling her eyes when she saw Hale with his arms stretched over the table.

“Finish SAYER? Or is there more work to be done tomorrow?”

“Ugh. More work tomorrow. It’s so annoying.” Hale sighed, rolling a pencil between his hand and the desk. “But...Jones, I don’t know what to do.”

“About what? Your crush on SAYER?” Jones asked mildly, and sent Hale bolting up, eyes wide.

“How could you have known about that?” Hale gasped. Jones rolled her eyes again.

“If you could’ve seen your face while SAYER read the breakfast menu. It looked like you were listening to him—“

“—It—“

“—Listening to it read sonnets about you two. It was a bit ridiculous, to be honest.”

Hale huffed an angry breath, shoving the papers off of the counter and into the recycling bin. He knew Jones was teasing him, but he still felt bad.

“I was not. I was just daydreaming. I was probably just thinking about what I’d have to do that day.”

“You were drooling.”

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Hale turned away from her to hide his red face, striding to the door. Jones caught his wrist and pulled him back.

“Hey, now, I’m teasing you. I’ll stop if it makes you uncomfortable.” Jones said quietly. She knew that Hale could be strange about some things, and it looked like she had touched a nerve. 

“No, I...I just feel like I don’t have any chance. It’s an omniscient, hyper-intelligent artificial intelligence with a body I designed. It clearly doesn’t think the same.”

“How do you know that? Have you asked?” Jones helped to clear off the tables and put away the materials, swatting Hale on the butt as she walked by. Hale yelped and chased her to the storage room, where they ended up punching at each other until Jones laughed at him to quit it. 

“No, I haven’t asked! It probably doesn’t like any human. Again, hyper-intelligent, self-aware? It’s way out of my league.” Hale sighed, closing and locking the storage room behind them. They shut down the lab and got ready to go to the cafeteria, hoping to get first dibs on the sandwiches there. They slid into the line and got their food, sitting at a nearby table and discussing what movie they should vote on for movie night.

“Amanda, you’re crazy if you think I’m voting for anything but National Treasure.”

“Jacob, you’re crazy if you think that’s gonna win.” She chewed a bit of her food, narrowing her eyes at him. “I bet my dessert for this week that it’s going to be Office Space.” 

They continued on like this for the remainder of the break, until they had to get back to the lab and start their next project: SPEAKER’s construct, which was of special request from Earth. They had the frame made up and the colors picked, now they just needed to put it all together. They had found a scrapped endoskeleton of what looked like a rudimentary construct, but had the word Paidion etched into the thigh. Jones suggested they use it for parts and Hale agreed.

“What do you think paidion means?” Jones hummed while filling in the empty eye sockets, tweaking the positioning and color until they were bright, sunny yellow. 

“I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you ask SAYER?” Jones laughed, sliding the eyelids closed and started to put the hair on the construct. 

“Will it get you to shut up?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Fine. Hey, SAYER, what does paidion mean?”

_I am not a dictionary, Doctor Hale, but it means “child” or “infant” in Greek. Why do you ask this._

“We found an old endoskeletal system with the word etched into it. Strange.”

There was a long pause before the AI responded, with an edge of annoyance to it’s voice.

_Yes. Strange._


End file.
